The first Nail knocked in, Peace in the House, and the first Sunday
Guest

CHAPTER XXIV.

Ancient Heirlooms are dismissed, and a new Tone prevails in the
Morgenhalde

CHAPTER XXV.

The Pendulums swing together, but the Stress on the Mainspring is
severe

CHAPTER XXVI.

The Axe is put to the Root of Life, and Tears are shed

CHAPTER XXVII.

Everything gone

CHAPTER XXVIII.

A Beggar, and Money saved

CHAPTER XXIX.

Another World

CHAPTER XXX.

The Thaw extends even to Petrowitsch, but he freezes again

CHAPTER XXXI.

Annele thaws also, but freezes again

CHAPTER XXXII.

A Stormy Night

CHAPTER XXXIII.

A Friend in Need

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Buried Alive

CHAPTER XXXV.

A Heart touched

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Voices from the Dead

CHAPTER XXXVII.

A Phalanx

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

A Plant grows under the Snow

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Saved

CHAPTER XL.

All's well

THE CLOCKMAKER
OF
THE BLACK FOREST.

CHAPTER XXIII.
THE FIRST NAIL KNOCKED IN, PEACE IN THE HOUSE,
AND THE FIRST SUNDAY GUEST.

Next day Annele seemed quite satisfied again with Franzl--she was such
a capital servant, and Annele said: "I have not yet given you any
thing, Franzl; do you prefer a gown or money?"

"I should like money best."

"There are two crown dollars for you."

Lenz was very much pleased when Franzl told him this--she is a spoiled,
hasty, dear, good child, thought he--and Franzl's idea was: "She is
like our young bailiff's wife at home, of whom the balancemaker's wife
once said: She has always seven visitors in her head, but only six
chairs, so one must always stand, or walk about, while the others are
sitting down." Lenz laughed, and Franzl continued: "We Kunslingers are
sharp enough, but see how nicely your wife has already put every thing
into order; any one else would have taken three days to complete it,
and stumbled at least seventeen times, and broken half the things into
the bargain. Your wife is not left-handed."

Lenz told Annele that Franzl declared she had two right hands, and
Annele was delighted with this praise. Annele now displayed a new
qualification. Lenz begged her to put in a nail in the wall above his
father's file. She hit the nail straight on the head, and Lenz hung up
his mother's picture on the first nail that Annele had knocked in at
home. "So far well," said Lenz. "Even if it is not quite her own face,
still these are her own eyes, which, please God, shall look down on a
peaceful, good, and happy life in this house. Let us always live, so
that my mother can gaze at us with satisfaction."

Annele was on the point of saying: "Oh! pray don't make a pattern saint
of the good woman;" but she gulped it down.

The whole week--it was now only Wednesday--was kept like a half
holiday; Lenz worked for a couple of hours, but, apparently, only to
remind him of his calling; and he was always in better spirits after he
had been busy at work. The various events, during the marriage
festivities, were naturally recalled and commented on. It was certainly
not a little amusing to hear the way in which Annele could imitate and
quiz them all. The landladies of the "Bear," the "Lamb" and the
"Eagle," were to the very life; Faller in particular she could take
off exactly, in the way in which he constantly stroked his moustaches,
till one could almost have believed that there were the same appendages
on Annele's pretty mocking face. She intended no malice in these
tricks--but she enjoyed any kind of fun, and was always well amused at
the Carnival merry making, and now nothing but good humour shone forth,
and she exclaimed: "Oh! how agreeable it is here in the hills, and how
still and quiet! I had no idea that there could be such perfect peace.
When I am seated here, and see and hear nothing of the world, and have
no one to give an answer to, I almost feel as if I were sleeping with
my eyes open--and sleeping pleasantly too; below there, it is like
being constantly in a busy mill; up here, it is like another existence:
I think I could actually hear my heart beat. I will not go down into
the village for the next fortnight; I will accustom myself by degrees
to give up going there, and it will be no hardship to me; they have no
idea below there what enjoyment there is in being out of the bustle,
and strife, and tumult of life. Oh Lenz, I don't think you know how
fortunate you have been all your life!"

Annele was seated one morning beside Lenz, uttering all these
exclamations of happiness and contentment, and the husband replied,
with a glad face: "This is just as it should be; I knew you would like
this house; and, believe me, I feel thankful to God, and to my parents,
that I have been permitted to pass my life hitherto here. But, my dear
little wife, we must not remain here for fourteen days, cut off from
everybody. At all events, we must go to church together next Sunday;
indeed, I think that we ought to go to see your parents for a little
today."

"Just as you like; and, fortunately, we don't take with us the
delightful peace we enjoy here, but we find it awaiting us when we come
home again. I cannot realize that I have been here so short a time, it
seems to me as if I had lived up here all my life; indeed, such quiet,
happy hours count for as much as years elsewhere."

"You explain everything so well, you are so clever. Recall this
feeling, if the day comes when you find it dull up here. Those people,
who would not believe that you could be happy in solitude, will be
surprised."

"Who refused to believe that? No doubt it was Pilgrim, that great
artist: a pretty fellow he is; if he does not find angels, he
immediately fancies them devils; but, I tell you fairly, he shall never
come under this roof."

"Pilgrim said nothing of the sort. Why will you persist in having some
particular person to hate? My mother said a hundred times over, the
only way to have peace of mind, is to think well of your fellow
creatures. I wish she had lived even a year longer, that you might have
profited by her wisdom. Was it not well said? You understand
everything. When we hate a man, or know that we have an enemy--I never
knew the feeling but once in my life and it was terrible indeed--we
feel, no matter where we go, or where we are, that an invisible pistol
is aimed at our heads. My greatest happiness is, that I hate no one,
and no one so far as I know, hates me."

Annele had not listened very attentively to this speech; she only
asked: "Who said it then, pray, if it was not Pilgrim?"

"No one, in fact, but I often thought so myself, I own."

"I don't believe that: some one must have put it into your head; but it
was very silly in you to tell me of it. I could repeat to you equally,
what people said about you; people whom you would little suspect! You
have your detractors also, just like other people; but I know better
than to irritate you by detailing such foolish talk."

"You only say this to pay me off. Well, I deserve it, and now we are
quits, so let us be cheerful again. The whole world is nothing to us
now; you and I form our whole world."

And both were indeed as happy as possible, and Franzl, in the kitchen,
was often seen moving her lips, which was her habit when she was
thinking of any particular subject, and on this occasion she thought
thus: "God be praised! it is all as it should be, and this is just the
way in which Anton and I would have lived together, if he had not
proved false, and married a black woman."

On Sunday morning, Lenz said: "I quite forgot to tell you, that I had
invited a guest to dinner today--I suppose you have no objection."

"No; who is it?"

"My worthy friend, Pilgrim."

"You ought to invite your uncle also, it is only proper to do so."

"I thought of it repeatedly, but it is better not; I know his ways."

The church bells in the valley began to ring out, and Lenz said: "Is
not that pleasant? My mother said a thousand times, that as we cannot
hear the bells themselves, but only the echo from the wood behind our
house, it is as if the melody came direct from heaven."